The most recent book by Steven Berlin Johnson, Where Good Ideas Come From, is an interesting read on a topic I suspect few of us have given much consideration — how breakthrough ideas, concepts, innovations and technologies are found. Who finds them? What types of things or conditions might contribute to a person finding a great new idea or invention?
Book Review
The 4-Hour Workweek
Unsettling. That’s the word that first comes to mind when I ponder the message in The 4-Hour Workweek.
Yes, it’s also interesting. And exciting, in a way. But unsettling because it makes me question everything.
Why do I work so hard? Is there a better way? Am I efficient and effective in my work?
Book Review: Aftershock
Robert B. Reich is an economist, professor, author and political commentator. He served in three presidential administrations- those of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. A graduate of Dartmouth College (summa cum laude), Oxford University and Yale Law School, Reich is considered one of America’s foremost political economists.
The Age of Deleveraging
By A. Gary Shilling, PhD Reviewed by David Perkins Want to know where the economy is headed? The stock market? Inflation and interest rates? Dr. Gary Shilling tells you. The only question is whether you believe him. He apparently has correctly forecast recessions and interest rate trends over the past 40 years. He’s foretold the [...]
Growing Your Business!
Every how-to book offers the promise of helpful information, but in most cases, it’s buried in 250 pages of text.
Not this one.
Book Cover Growing Your Business
Growing Your Business! is more than brief. It’s about six inches tall and four inches wide, with large font and ample line spacing to boot. I read it just because the risk-reward proposition is so favorable. That is, it offered me the promise of useful information and downside risk of no more than 15 minutes of my time.
Book Review: “The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It”, Michael E. Gerber
Michael Gerber’s The E-Myth is the book most frequently recommended to me. That’s probably why I never read it. I have a fad phobia. “In vogue” is a call to all lemmings, as far as I’m concerned.
The E-Myth was first published in 1985. The E-Myth Revisited was published in 1995. It’s perennially on lists of best business books. It’s on the required reading lists of classes taught at institutions of higher learning the world over, such as Stanford. Not sure why I finally decided to pick up a copy, but let’s just say I’m not hopelessly stubborn.
Book Review: “A Colossal Failure of Common Sense”, Lawrence G. McDonald
More than an insider’s account of events that led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, it’s also a truly amazing story of a young man’s ”by hook or by crook” determination to break into the ultra-exclusive club that is Wall Street. Although the story could have been told in fewer pages, it’s chock-full of tales of hustle, determination, greed, ego, intelligence, big bets and the chase for big bonuses. It also reveals the complexity of the world’s economic system and financial markets; how relationships and power struggles at this level can swing billions, if not trillions; and how even the smartest people can, and often do, get it wrong.
Book Review: “The Sociopath Next Door”, Martha Stout
Life is a struggle. Why so much violence? Hurt? Poverty? Deception? Greed? Delusion?
What is it, you say? Why focus on the negative when there’s so much good all around?
True, our world is also filled with love, health, hope, care, generosity, sanity. All of these rest — at least in part — on our ability to hold tight to the “good” that is and is possible. But is there also value in acknowledging the “bad?” Is there value in, at least on occasion, viewing the underbelly and pondering why it exists in such abundance?
Book Review: “Re-imagine!”, Tom Peters
I first read Re-imagine! in 2007 just after it was published. I picked it up again the other day. I did so because Re-imagine! is about “Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age” and the world economy has – I think it is fair to say – crumbled. There’s chaos everywhere. The ultimate catalyst that caused me to pick up the book again was a call from an old friend of mine. She said, “Perk, ah, you’re not going to like this, but I think I’m in big trouble here.” She was talking about her business of 60 employees. She doesn’t think she can make it anymore, facing possible bankruptcy and personal financial ruin because she personally guarantees the debt.
Book Review: “Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior”, Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman
Ever said to yourself, “Why in the world did I do that?” Of course you have. After all, as Roman Catholic Cardinal Melchior De Polignac declared, “Errare humanum est (to err is human).”
But why do we behave in ways contrary to our own self-interest? Why, when we place so much pride in our ability to be rational and prudent, do we at times behave with such irrationality?
Why does a billionaire oil executive and commodities trader double down on trading losses again and again until all is lost? Why do NASA scientists ignore data that clearly show O-rings fail?
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